surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Aug 21, 2018 21:00:11 GMT -5
Oh Dang! Color me jealous of your location and fabulous beach finds. I looked at each frame and loved all of it. Thanks so much for sharing with us. Those are all from Sunset Beach in Cape May, NJ. If you're ever in the area, it is absolutely worth a stop. It's about an hour and a half to two hour drive for us (until it becomes four hours in the tourist season). Most of the good stuff piles up along the high tide line, and in the notches along the jetty (sometimes under a thin layer of sand, so a small hand trowel is super handy). It's all literally steps from the parking lot. Most people who go just look for the 'cape may diamonds', which leaves a lot of the really interesting stuff for everyone else. (We find the 'diamonds' so fast that if somebody asks what they look like, we can find a little one within seconds to just hand them most visits. I, uh... use them as grit carriers in the rotary; we have a shoebox or so full of 'em.) The mindat writeup for the place doesn't cover much of what's actually there -- just the quartz and the apricot colored quartz, the name of which I forget off hand. I keep pining over the calcite shell in your pic -- is that from Ruck's Pit? We keep pining to try to go there we go to Florida again ever since we found out about it (especially if the beaches are still iffy for beachcombing due to the algae woes in the area this year in late October). The Florida trip is usually for shells, but shells + crystals is pretty much the husband's instant jackpot bonanza of perfection. Since we're likely to be there right around the time the beach troubles (if luck holds) are fading, we're looking for some alternatives to keep us busy. (Naturally, this would be the year we go down for two weeks instead of one, right?)
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Post by arghvark on Aug 22, 2018 7:34:07 GMT -5
Wowie zowie, some really neat stuff here, that you've done a great job with. Like many, drawn to the fossil bits.
And to echo what's already been said several times, that wavy white one in pic 16 (the "hands in the air" group) is a real eye-popper! <3
Thanks for sharing!
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Aug 23, 2018 0:18:11 GMT -5
We're funny to watch when it comes to the wavy ones. They really stand out sometimes on the rock piles, since most of the patterns are smaller or more diffuse than that. (Some surprise us; there are some that are very subtle differences in the band colors and it doesn't show up until the crusty calcification has come off.) So whenever either of us spots one, it's like somebody hit the siren on a submarine and it's DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! as we go lunging across the sand for it like crazy people. They're the one thing other than quartz I can get the husband excited about that can go in the tumbler. He gets one general instruction from me: anything big, grab it -- if it's not useful, it can live in the garden. (Big for that beach is maybe 3 inches at the widest point, usually, so it's not big big. Somewhere, lost in an 'I'll put this somewhere safe!' part of the house, there's a my-tiny-fist-sized piece of blue and white conglomerate I found, but I think it's our biggest tumble-able find from there other than a chunk of quartz about the size and shape of a brick too large for the tumblers that lives on the front steps now.) I tend to sit and sift for patterns that look promising on a pile, and he wanders everywhere, so 'big!' he can spot easily in his meandering. At some point, I need to add pics here of the stuff he does grab, though -- none of which will be going into the tumbler. He's the 'chunk of water worn brick, slag, hunks of coal' guy. We love all of that, too, just for the contrast/balance of 'natural rocks I tumble' and 'man-made materials that nature tumbled in the ocean'. There's some sea glass, bits of tile, somewhere there's a child's teacup handle -- things like that, too, that are pretty neat. The weirdest and most unusual thing like this we -- and by we I mean he -- found was in Florida earlier this year: a piece that must have come from jewelry that was made from polymer clay. It was very worn and crusty ocean things were starting to grow on it, but still had the patterns that had been stamped into it by the artist. (It ended up being a gift to the maternal one, since most of her jewelry work is polymer clay, and she joins the beachcombing adventures when she can.) We are those idiots that regret not hauling home the cinderblock covered in barnacles, because it was completely blackened otherwise and so incredibly neat, or old Victorian bricks still imprinted with their maker's marks. (We did at least get pictures of those.) Heavens help us, if ever we won the lottery, our poor yard would probably look like a beach after a really bad storm, full of (questionably) artfully-arranged beach debris, around an absurd lottery dream house full of shiny rocks and seashells, and we'd be the sand, saltwater, mud, and grit-covered lurkers that everyone constantly mistakes for 'the help' or the neighbors call the cops on.
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Aug 28, 2018 1:14:55 GMT -5
Lesson of the week: AO 500 and 1000 will really show you all those tiny pits and cracks you missed the first time through when breaking in a new bowl.
Still hopefully on target to finally get a batch of the quartz into polish for the first time this go 'round in a few days! How and why I keep putting things into the vibes in the wee hours of morning is beyond me, but it seems to keep happening that way lately.
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Sept 3, 2018 1:10:42 GMT -5
First few finished ones, which thankfully didn't mess up completely despite an 'oops'. (Note to self: Dreft bubbles much more than Borax, don't add it early even if the mix seems a little thin... ) This is about 1/5-1/4 of the batch, but all I have the energy to get pictures of tonight before crashing for a while. These are actually the most boring of the lot, which is not very interesting on the whole as it's all the basic quartz and what I think may be chalcedony, but they're the smallest groups and require less fussing around for pics. Boring large quartz! b01big by Dee F., on Flickr The valiant grit carriers that made it through all shiny: b01grit by Dee F., on Flickr The "fancy" grit carriers (and a few larger ones intentionally thrown into the mix), aka 'Cape May Diamonds'. Some of these are milky-clear, but still mostly devoid of flaws or cracks: b01diamonds by Dee F., on Flickr ...these are what most people look for there. There are so many at this point, well, with few exceptions, yep, grit carriers! The light in here is garbage, but they have a passable shine, better than the little polished stones I used to buy, anyway.
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Sept 3, 2018 11:17:11 GMT -5
Still working on pictures, since there were early morning scrub-outs and that has me wiped, but I have to share the egg rock, which makes me chuckle: b01owhite by Dee F., on Flickr Normally, I wouldn't bother with 'plain, opaque white' at all -- but they are, for some reason, my mother's favorites, so the plain opaque white ones will be gathered in a jar for her for Christmas.
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Sept 8, 2018 10:57:00 GMT -5
Second batch of boring quartz is coming out of polish this morning, and I still haven't managed to get pics of all the first.
I definitely don't have a full batch of Not Quartz to throw into polish next, but I'm really tempted to throw in what's ready with extra ceramics anyway.
Have absolutely discovered that the quartz and Not Quartz do not play nicely together at all after 120/220. Most of the Not Quartz is probably flint and chert, and has a glassy clink to it -- it likes to ding and pit and undercut and reveal new layers of matrix, and the quartz stops playing nice after a while with it. Lots of filler may be what it wants, but I'm still on the fence. :/
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Post by TheRock on Sept 8, 2018 16:42:13 GMT -5
Those BEACHERS are Beauty's In a few minutes I go out to the Ultra Vibe 18 and prepare for the final Stage out of 7 Stages of Polishing. I go from 13,000 mesh polish to 85,000 Mesh on my Lake Michigan Beach Rubble that Has Been Spinning and Vibing for 3 months. When completed, This will be my Second completed batch.
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Sept 8, 2018 17:09:27 GMT -5
Thank you! They're nothing especially fancy most of the time, but I do love 'em. These still need a proper sort beyond 'basic groups' and 'from the ceramics', but these are the ones out today. A few will have to get tossed back, but even in my awful phone pic, they didn't come out too badly. preview2 by Dee F., on Flickr
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bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Sept 8, 2018 20:30:51 GMT -5
Just stunning local stuff. I love it all!
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Sept 8, 2018 21:39:09 GMT -5
FINALLY got pics of the first batch. It's a lot of pictures, and a lot of experimenting with phone camera doom -- what can I say, I'm lazy and don't feel like finding all the needed components for the real camera -- there's a pile of pics here: www.flickr.com/photos/141469319@N06/albums/72157695083130760Older pics have the old cork or terrycloth background, newer on off-white paper with better light. A few of the closeups of specific stones: b01-001 by Dee F., on Flickr b01-003 by Dee F., on Flickr b01-007 by Dee F., on Flickr b01-011 by Dee F., on Flickr b01-043 by Dee F., on Flickr b01-017 by Dee F., on Flickr Blanked on adding the coin in for size comparison, but most of these are definitely on the smaller side.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,175
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Post by jamesp on Sept 9, 2018 9:10:17 GMT -5
You have some incredible material. Love your fossils.
I want to mention a finding about the beautiful black/blue colors. Bare w/me.
I collect fossil coral down in the rivers of Florida. These lazy rivers are very old and virtually undisturbed by tectonic/earthquakes/lava flows/fault tilts/hydrualic flow etc. The coral rolls out of a vein above low river water level. The corals in the banks and along the edge of the river are white/orange/browninsh color. Newer to fall in the river. As you move to the middle of the river there is a black ancient muck where the much older corals have fallen from the bank. ALL the coral pried out of the ancient muck in the middle of the river is stained completely thru with the same blue/black color as your fossil silicifications. Even the artifacts that are found in the middle of the river are relatively new in age but are stained with that blue/black muck but only at the immediate surface.
Conclusion - that your fossil silicifications most likely spent time in black muck somewhere in their lifetime. Such colors are sought after down this way. Very likely the color is a result of some ancient organic compounds. Well, when snorkeling out in the middle of the Florida rivers thick muck deposits can be found by probing with a t handled sharp steel rod pointing you to such blackened coral. So, you may find black clay/muck zones that may yield more of these colors than other areas.
Just some food for thought. You have fine stones. Must be heavenly collecting there.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,175
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Post by jamesp on Sept 9, 2018 9:19:50 GMT -5
Add this too - metal salts in salt water also stain rock black. Silicified coral pseudomorph found in salt water of Tampa Bay FL. Do these blue/blacks look familiar ?
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Sept 9, 2018 10:39:27 GMT -5
Thank you! They're nothing especially fancy most of the time, but I do love 'em. These still need a proper sort beyond 'basic groups' and 'from the ceramics', but these are the ones out today. A few will have to get tossed back, but even in my awful phone pic, they didn't come out too badly. preview2 by Dee F., on Flickr I love this picture. That tray of clear quartz bottom left is killer. keep picking those up. Chuck
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Sept 9, 2018 11:11:55 GMT -5
I love this picture. That tray of clear quartz bottom left is killer. keep picking those up. Chuck I need to get a better shot of those from the first two batches. They're the 'Cape May Diamonds'. There are a few that are about up to the size of a quarter, but those are hard to come by. I find tiny ones by the handful, and the husband has this magical ability to find the bigger ones more than I do -- usually one per trip. There's a stunner that has a crack right through the middle that's driving me nuts trying to get rid of the open part of the crack that I'm currently stalking with a squint from batch to batch. Not all of the ones in there are perfect, so I have to go through and find the ones that are (or are really close) and sift them from the 'tiny but pretty and sparkly'. It's often hard to tell when we find them, but at times, they look like a drop of frozen water sitting on top of the rocks if everything's still damp while on the beach. Those typically polish up to water clear, which blows my mind... and even when they're super tiny, it's worth it. We had about a large shoebox full of them when we started -- they're like pea gravel normally, so while I tried running some of the pea gravel, I realized it'd take a while to get as smooth as the ones we'd found typically start out, and I decided to use those first. So they become the filler in the rotary for coarse, and as they clean up, they get to graduate on along with everything else. That beach is great for providing it's own perfect tiny grit carriers and buffers! It does make checking through and rinsing things off to see what's ready to move along a LONG process, but it's worth it. I try to have enough running for everything that I can run one group while sorting the previous to see what moves along, but got behind on coarse so every so often there are a few days where something sits idle now waiting for something else. The UV-18 barrel I started with is a dedicated 120/220, so I needed to wait (and store things up for months) to get some additional barrels. Was able to recover the old UV-10, so it now handles AO 500/1000 as things get there, then it's back to the 18 for polish in a polish barrel when there are enough ready to go. 120/220 seems to take the longest on a lot of what we find there, which is mind-blowing; most has to be re-run through it several times even if it appears done with coarse. For the quartz, it's when all the undercutting cracks show up on the cracked ones, and for the 'everything else', it's when 'got rid of one pit, new pits emerging' is off to the races due to the nature of the material. The quartz seems to finish up faster as a result, so there were enough for two rounds of it in polish while the rest straggle along playing whack-a-mole with tiny pits. There's finally a small load of the other material in polish with at least half ceramic filler, so I'm hoping they will behave themselves!
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Sept 9, 2018 11:20:20 GMT -5
Add this too - metal salts in salt water also stain rock black. Silicified coral pseudomorph found in salt water of Tampa Bay FL. Do these blue/blacks look familiar ? They do! We get a lot of stuff that's in that blue-black shade on the beach in NJ, but it tends to be solid. We'll then see tiny cell structures emerging here and there on it rather often. The 'orange stuff' has a lot of it, too, and is often mixed with the blue-black/navy blue pieces. (Then they often get patches of a milky yellow-green in some cases. Not sure what the orange or the trippy green would indicate.) Note to self: try to get to Tampa when in Florida in a few months. Dang! Supposedly, Honeymoon Island is great for things like the piece in the pic -- or once was, and once in a blue moon you can find things now. It's been on our Florida bucket list for a few years now. Depending on how the red tide goes and where it's focused (naturally, currently exactly where we normally spend most of our time, near Sanibel) we're specifically looking for alternative spots this year. I think I need to point the husband at that pic to encourage the 3 hour drive from where we normally stay. Somehow, thinkin' it's not gonna be a hard sell! (Heck, if it's as bad as they say, we may make it to Ruck's Pit this year, too, and that's also something of a hike.) ...yowza, though, that might get him to finally lighten up about me getting a saw... ETA: There's DEFINITELY muck. Lots of muck. Where beach is not, there is salt marsh. Almost the entire Delaware river and bay is salt marsh. Super reeky in the summer, but worth it. The beach where we go was almost alllllllll pebbles until a few years ago, when Hurricane Sandy hit. They had to do so much beach reclamation in the general area and adding sand to neighboring beaches that it managed to inherit more sand than it once had through the summer. The folks who maintain it, however, refuse to add sand themselves, since they like it how it is. (And we love 'em for it.) Atlantic beaches lose sand through the fall and winter, and it starts to come back in spring, so we brave the cold to go out there when we won't completely freeze our butts off. (And we cheat with a dozen layers and heat packs tucked everywhere.)
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,175
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Post by jamesp on Sept 9, 2018 12:02:09 GMT -5
Sure looks like California beach finds with all the agate you picked up. Clear quartz is also a treasure. Your collection surprised me, in Atlanta here and the NE coast is not so far away. Can't say how shocked I am at what you found. The fossils are over the top. Thanks for sharing.
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surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
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Post by surreality on Sept 9, 2018 12:29:59 GMT -5
It's a really cool location. Sort of a perfect storm of sorts? Though we don't find any of the spectacular jaspers and such that I constantly drool over. (And I still seriously envy your spot and gator-braveness, dangit.)
Geologically, it's neat. Basically, the DE river starts up in the Catskills, which is about the furthest edge of where the old glacial material came down along this coast, so far as I know. Everything runs down the river from there, and the river itself is supposedly fossil heaven. The river dumps into the bay, and the bay meets up with the Atlantic. The spot where we collect is pretty much exactly where the bay meets up with the Atlantic, so things wash in from both directions, depending on the time of year.
And to make it more amusing and fun, there's a long -- unintentional -- jetty there that catches a lot of things. It's an old concrete ship, still visible over the water line as a rusty mess, that sank in a storm about a hundred years ago. So whichever way the current is moving, it hits the 'really long jetty' and piles up to wash up over time.
If you're ever up this way, it's worth a stop, really. Not as good collecting as it was a handful of years ago, but there's always something. We bring a little trowel with us to dig under the sand in spots we know things pile up, and will always find piles underneath with minimal effort. Basically, anywhere along the rock jetty. It's nice, too, because the larger things tend to come up on the higher tides, so even on less awesome tide days, there's a wrack line full of stuff to pick through.
People go there specifically to look for the clear crystal pebbles, which the beach is famous for. They leave literally everything else more or less ignored. Depending on luck, we've managed to fill full a full gallon bucket with coral fossils while the handful of people around us have a tiny ziploc bag with a dozen crystal pebbles in it. This is me not complaining! That's only happened a couple times over the years we've collected there, but I adore those days.
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stonedandwired
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2018
Posts: 1
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Post by stonedandwired on Sept 9, 2018 12:45:21 GMT -5
You have some incredible material. Love your fossils. I want to mention a finding about the beautiful black/blue colors. Bare w/me. I collect fossil coral down in the rivers of Florida. These lazy rivers are very old and virtually undisturbed by tectonic/earthquakes/lava flows/fault tilts/hydrualic flow etc. The coral rolls out of a vein above low river water level. The corals in the banks and along the edge of the river are white/orange/browninsh color. Newer to fall in the river. As you move to the middle of the river there is a black ancient muck where the much older corals have fallen from the bank. ALL the coral pried out of the ancient muck in the middle of the river is stained completely thru with the same blue/black color as your fossil silicifications. Even the artifacts that are found in the middle of the river are relatively new in age but are stained with that blue/black muck but only at the immediate surface. Conclusion - that your fossil silicifications most likely spent time in black muck somewhere in their lifetime. Such colors are sought after down this way. Very likely the color is a result of some ancient organic compounds. Well, when snorkeling out in the middle of the Florida rivers thick muck deposits can be found by probing with a t handled sharp steel rod pointing you to such blackened coral. So, you may find black clay/muck zones that may yield more of these colors than other areas. Just some food for thought. You have fine stones. Must be heavenly collecting there.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2018 12:47:50 GMT -5
It's a really cool location. Sort of a perfect storm of sorts? Some pretty dendritic agate comes from around there, too. Like you said, small pieces, though. Speaking of "perfect storm" - hope that Florence doesn't do a direct hit on your beaches, though who knows what else might get exposed?
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